


Hunting Scene

by Cinnamaldeide



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Aromantic pair, Beta Read, Gen, Hunting, Post-Season/Series 03, Pre-Season/Series 01, family moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 15:07:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12171318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamaldeide/pseuds/Cinnamaldeide
Summary: Their light steps betrayed the solitary nature of their selective pack, which likewise included no more than two individuals; much like a lone predator instructing its progeny.Written for Hannibal Cre-Ate-Tive’s #EatTheRare event





	Hunting Scene

**Author's Note:**

> I had to teach AO3 the tag “Hannibal Lecter & Garrett Jacob Hobbs,” so I’m confident on the _rare _part, but this is not intended as a romantic pair. I hope you enjoy my work for Hannibal Cre-Ate-Tive’s__[#EatTheRare](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/post/164342663874/you-asked-for-it-youll-get-it-its-time)  
>  More importantly, thank you [Pheno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phenobarbital) for always correcting and supporting my writing ♥

Hannibal heard them, before he could see them.

Deep in the woods, far from supplies for primary subsistence, in the utmost wild, dried foliage on the forest floor would crackle after their otherwise silent passage. Their light steps betrayed the solitary nature of their selective pack, which likewise included no more than two individuals; much like a lone predator instructing its progeny.

Admiring the quiet, mortal stillness engulfing their uncontracted limbs, Hannibal witnessed their slightest changing, as they became one with their primeval surroundings, before the lethal, similarly sole bullet would pierce the meat of their oblivious prey. The satisfied look of the leader, as the carcass of the deer fell on the ground, after the pull of the trigger. The delightful uncertainty painted on the features of the shocked apprentice, after the decisive shot.

Despite his coincidental presence in their hunting territory, Hannibal would treasure the endearing portrait in front of his eyes; his conflicted instincts encouraged him to protect such an affective, fragile, familiar picture, and at the same time to ruin their idyllic dimension, setting a game similar to the one they were playing, with them at the other side of the hunt.

Glancing at them with covetous eyes for one last bold peek, Hannibal noticed his presence had been revealed; despite its initial startle, the predator wouldn’t deign to acknowledge him as cause for concern, limiting itself to shielding its unaware pupil and reining in his own feral, yet still dormant beast.

It recognized him as an equal, Hannibal realized. Its senses would be growling at it to engage, if not for their respective human-shaped appearances. Hannibal could sympathize with the feeling, therefore he stepped aside, respecting its tacit request for intimacy.

As Hannibal leisurely returned home with his own personal trophies, chanterelles in a traditional wooden basket, his wandering thoughts focused on the possessive, fierce posture he’d summoned in his previous encounter. Hannibal wondered about the multitudinous applications such morbid urges would employ to express their caring love.

Beasts loved in a different manner from how humans might. Hannibal doubted the wary creature standing far of him, between dead branches and rotten leaves, reconciled civil and feral in its double nature; changing, consuming, devouring physically more than metaphorically would come much more naturally.

The opportunity to admire his own most gruesome supposition materialized, he marvelled, arose in the format of an online tabloid for fanatics obsessed with realistic gore and crime, where poor quality photographs escorted articles of doubtful accuracy; he was unfortunately among those regular readers, if probably for entirely different reasons.

While he couldn’t presume to know for certain the correlation with his fortuitous meeting, Hannibal recognized the meticulous, rustic charm of a patient, perfectionist hunter.

His modest admiration was enough for him to deliberately offer feigned ignorance and misleading suggestions to prevent its capture, watching the nightmares haunt the mind of young girls and police officers. He lingered on his personal pleasure to cultivate emerging talents, bitterly relinquishing his longing for a worthy companion for himself.

Hannibal curiously found himself sparing a thought for the arguably conscious object of those unhealthy affections, born from the incapacity of a father to part with his daughter; he saw them in his mind palace, surrounded with bare trees, perfect in their precarious balance.

And then it was Will who _saw_ them.

 

“This is a courtesy call. Listen very carefully. Are you listening?”  
“Yes.”  
“They know.”

 

Drenched in crepuscular light, sampling fresh traces of morning dew in the humid air, Hannibal appreciates with rapt attention the scenic performance playing out mere feet from him; from his advantageous position, behind his careless prey, he could observe with detached attention its uncertain flight toward unfamiliar grounds and admire its increasing fear spreading on its contorting features.

After taking so long in driving it out of its secured hideout, Hannibal relishes with rapt satisfaction at the sight of its undignified stumble, as he lures it further into its trap. His cornered target would soon recognize the beautiful, merciless predator at the hands of whom it would perish.

Glistening in resplendent inhumanity, stripped bare of his onerous, constrictive sense of morality, Will inflicts barehanded his indomitable strength upon his screaming, unprepared victim. Hannibal approaches their location with stealthy steps, holstering his menacing, yet totally unnecessary knife to achieve its purpose with mirroring bare hands.

Grounding together their recalcitrant opponent, restraining its writhing limbs as blood paints their flushed skin and soaks their constrictive clothes, Hannibal wonders about the unfamiliar, fulfilling sense of accomplishment he experiences, despite the ungratifying lack of elegance in their hunt.

Regardless of their unrefined, almost simplistic strategy, Hannibal couldn’t be persuaded to regret the sacrifice of his spotless operating methods, nor the luxuries, the certainties, the respect he forfeited to obtain this blissful moment; he would have compromised them much sooner, if it meant he would share his natural inclinations with an equally uncompassionate creature.

Over the lifeless corpse of their intended victim, Will breathes heavily and sways his light head, grasping slippery residues of his ephemeral euphoria; taking an unworthy life proves compelling, when Will succeeds in remembering that doing bad things to bad people makes him feel good.

Hannibal can’t say it often enough, for Will to believe him, but it doesn’t matter, as long as they agree to reciprocally acknowledge themselves as companions, as part of their personal pack of two.

In retrospect, Hannibal would probably admit to himself his hinted, yet disturbing enviousness for the faithful compliance Garrett had been graced with; Hannibal had spent previous years of his life establishing a unique relationship with Will that would allow their mutual understanding; providing a definition to their consuming connection feels like lessen its meaning.

Hobbs got caught in a similarly destructive partnership, considering its addictive nature inevitably led to the reciprocal decease of both involved parts; Hannibal hopes to resist longer, assuming he’d survive the bloody, vicious mate he obstinately chose to court, and not simply get swayed under his unhindered, tearing fangs.

The very same sweet, menacing weapon grazing his supple exposed neck, as Will spreads traces of bright vermilion on his unstained flesh; his urge to mark him flatters Hannibal. Standing in front of him distracts his senses and confuses his perception of their sylvan surrounding. Hannibal would encourage his tentative initiative, were it not for the undeserving eyes glimpsing their frail intimacy.

Hannibal heard someone approaching them, and now Will sees them clearly.

**Author's Note:**

> No dialogue at all, this time. Only something similar to a _before you_ and _after you_.  
>  You may have noticed that Hannibal always uses the neuter pronoun, apart when speaking about Will, while Garrett uses _she_ even with the deer, in the serie... I found this detail about this character very poignant, even if he may have been refering to the girls he already honored, in his mind.


End file.
